The building hosted a boy’s school for a while and fell into disrepair in the 1930s. It became a farm shop for several decades after the war before becoming disused, and thence was occupied by artists in 1990. It has since become one of the least formal and most colourful cultural centres in Reading.

The volunteers who maintain this grade II listed building plan to refurbish the building’s exterior and are looking for help from the Heritage Lottery Fund and Reading Borough Council. The centre also gets income from the rent of the terraced houses next door, which it owns.